The Oamaru Mail WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1880.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 15 December 1880, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1880.

Ur yesterday afternoon' 3 train, his Worship the Mayor forwarded a letter to Mr. Oliver, At Elderslie, asking him when he wonld be prepared to receive a deputation. Mr. Oliver shas not yet replied. But it 13 understood that he visited Oamara merely for the purpose, of attending a friendly gathering at Elderslie, and that he therefore .declined to receive deputations, or to submit ±0 be urorried by public business. In fact, Mr. Oliver <eame here as plain Mr. Oliver, and not as a member of the Cabinet and Minister for Public Works. Perhaps he -would like, wherever he goes, to entirely •divest himself of the irksome responsibilities ■of office. N<ew Zealand communities are not •over-exacting; and ve think that the Minister for Public Works should never go any--where without visiting a friend. Whatever .may be the failings of colonists they ore neither so rude nor wishful to deprive an •overwrought Minister of recreation. In their -conaideratcnea3 they invariably err on the iside of leniency, and we suppose that they -will let the Hon. Mr. Oliver depart in peace. Bat will the honorable gentleman permit us to express an opinion that he should cultivate similar virtues. For months we might almost say for years—the people of this district have sought to secare rights ■which he only can confer. He has long since recognised those rights and pledged himself to grant them. But, in the memorable language of the hon. gentleman, be is still keeping them "steadily in view," and just when we are anxious to give him an opportunity of redeeming his Eamises by jogging his memory, and of reving his eyes of the terrific strain to which

tliey liave been subjected, he dodges us. Such an act may be. consistent 'with the creed of the Hall Ministry, but it is not that of a courageous man and an honorable politician. What if Mr. Oliver has been badgered over the railway tariff busiSurely that cannot be viewed as a reason for treating the just demands of a reasonable and long-suffering people with contempt. Mr. Oliver should be prepared to stand the consequences of his own misconduct. If he is not, lie should resign. As Minister he is the greatest failure that lias ever drawn a salary from the colonial exchequer. Wh.it a pitiable sight to see a man holding such a position hurrying away by this afternoon's train in order to avoid facing those whom he had humbt'i'ged and wronged. He now says that t)i(A?atioi] shall have a verandah, and that he has issued instructions for the erection of the Neapara cattle yards. This may be true. But Mr. Oliver has succeeded in disloging from our minds every remnant of respect for his word. If he has really repented of his conduct, and resolved to grant the Ngapara people cattle yards and other conveniences such as he has provided on his own estate, so much the better. But why did he not pay some deference to the letter from his Worship the Mayor? .Surely the making of arrangements for the supply of water to the railway department here is not a matter beneath the notice of even a Minister for Public Work 3. Why did he not, also, pay some deference to the desire of the Waitaki Eoad Board, and a large section of the settlers, that railway conveniences, such as lie has provided for himself out of public money, should be erected on the Duntroon line ? Snch attention to his duties might have entailed the expenditure of a day, but what is he paid for ?